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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. can — to be able to
  4. pitch — completely
  5. field — a subject
  6. can — a tin
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. fork — in a road
  10. field — farmland
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. saw — the tool
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. can — a tin
  15. cold — an illness
  16. capital — money
  17. wind — moving air
  18. saw — the tool
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. cold — not warm
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. capital — a city
  23. wind — moving air
  24. capital — a big letter

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com